Canadian filmmaker Ivan Reitman, to whom we owe “Ghostbusters” and other great hit comedies, has died at the age of 75, his entourage announced on Monday.
“I lost my hero”, wrote on social networks his son Jason Reitman, himself a director (“Thank you for smoking”, “Juno”, “SOS Fantômes: L’Héritage”).
“In Hollywood, he was larger than life. He was a king of comedy”, paid tribute to him on Twitter Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he had turned in “Twins” and “A cop in kindergarten”.
“A great talent and a man of great finesse; he will be greatly missed,” Sony Pictures studio boss Tom Rothman said via Twitter.
Ivan Reitman had more than 50 years of career and had made himself known in the United States by producing in 1978 “American College”, a cult comedy regarding American students and their often very turbulent fraternities.
But it was as a director that the Canadian had gained worldwide notoriety, with “Ghostbusters” (“Ghostbusters”) in 1984, which remained, with its soundtrack that became a hit, a reference for several generations.
In search of ghosts and other facetious ectoplasms, the four characters in suits crisscrossed New York to save the city from malevolent spirits – a scenario that will be repeated and diverted until exhaustion.
The film also offered Bill Murray the first in a long line of great roles.
“I am very saddened by the passing of Ivan Reitman, a great filmmaker with whom I had the honor and the privilege of working,” tweeted actor Ernie Hudson, who starred in “Ghostbusters” in 1984 and its 1989 sequel.
He had also made a wink appearance in the 2016 remake, where the entire team of ghost hunters was this time embodied by women.
“I am in complete shock,” reacted on Twitter Paul Feig, the director of this eponymous remake.
“I had the honor of working closely with Ivan and it was always such a rewarding experience. He directed some of my favorite comedies. We who do comedies owe him so much, ”he continued.
“Ivan Reitman was old school in a good way (…) It’s sad that he’s gone, it makes me feel old and I feel like the films of my childhood are farther than ever,” wrote one of the film’s actresses, Mindy Kaling.
After “Ghostbusters”, Ivan Reitman had achieved new great successes by skillfully managing to deviate Arnold Schwarzenegger from his testosterone-oozing roles to practice self-mockery and play comic characters.
This was the case three times with “Twins” (1988), “A kindergarten cop” (1990) and “Junior” (1994), shoots that “were heaven for me”, remembers the actor .
“Ivan had a way of being part of your story and he certainly wrote part of mine. I will always be grateful to him for giving this Austrian action star a chance at a time when studios wanted me to just find new ways to kill bad guys, blow things up and show my muscles”, writes Arnold Schwarzenegger, with some photos of him with Ivan Reitman.
“That’s why Ivan was a great director and a friend: he might see something in you that other people mightn’t, and he helped you show it to the rest of the world,” he adds.
After directing “Sex Friends” (2011) with Natalie Portman then “Le Pari” (2014) with Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner (a commercial failure), Ivan Reitman was working on a sequel to the film “Twins”, entitled “Triples” and featuring Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Filming was to begin this year.
Born in what is now Slovakia in October 1946 to Jewish parents who had survived the Nazis and deportation, he had emigrated at the age of four to escape the communist regime and his family had settled in Canada.
In addition to his son Jason, Ivan Reitman had two daughters, Caroline and Catherine, the latter being herself an actress and producer, known in particular for the series “Workin’ Moms”.
